So far, social services has turned down his pleas for amended assistance

Martin Stadler is fighting the social services appeal board’s decision to turn down his request for an amended benefits payment schedule. On Tuesday, he appeared before the social services appeal board, asking its three members to give him a break on an October account glitch. The board expects to have a decision on that request in 15 days.

He fled communist Prague in 1968, when he was just 13, and became a computer engineer in Canada. In his 50s, he became disabled. Now 63, he’s living hand-to-mouth in a rundown house and pursuing his dream: of receiving a full Canada pension when he turns 65.

“I’m not the healthy person I was,” Martin Stadler said in an interview Tuesday before his social services appeal board hearing in Winnipeg.

He said he discovered, when he was no longer able to work in “one of the richest countries in the world,” there is an unwritten, shameful rule: “People who get disabled have an obligation to live in poverty.”

When he developed heart problems and could no longer work, Stadler applied to Manitoba Employment and Income Assistance (EIA), the provincial department that administers welfare. He said he was told he had to apply for his Canada Pension Plan at age 60 instead of 65, reducing the monthly payments and its overall value.

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He fled communist Prague in 1968, when he was just 13, and became a computer engineer in Canada. In his 50s, he became disabled. Now 63, he’s living hand-to-mouth in a rundown house and pursuing his dream: of receiving a full Canada pension when he turns 65.

"I’m not the healthy person I was," Martin Stadler said in an interview Tuesday before his social services appeal board hearing in Winnipeg.

He said he discovered, when he was no longer able to work in "one of the richest countries in the world," there is an unwritten, shameful rule: "People who get disabled have an obligation to live in poverty."

When he developed heart problems and could no longer work, Stadler applied to Manitoba Employment and Income Assistance (EIA), the provincial department that administers welfare. He said he was told he had to apply for his Canada Pension Plan at age 60 instead of 65, reducing the monthly payments and its overall value.

Stadler refused, and EIA suspended his welfare benefits.

He tried appealing the decision, saying his charter rights to life, liberty and security of the person, and to equal treatment, were being violated. The social services appeal board dismissed his claim, saying it has no jurisdiction in charter cases.

Sadler’s only recourse was to take the matter to the Court of Queen’s Bench.

The Coalition of Vulnerable Manitobans — made up of Inclusion Winnipeg, Winnipeg Harvest and the Canadian Mental Health Association in Manitoba — intervened in Stadler’s case. It was heard in May 2017, by the Manitoba Court of Appeal, which ruled later that year the appeal board does have the jurisdiction and obligation to hear appeals based on charter arguments.

The decision gives people greater access to justice, by giving them the option of using a more timely and less expensive process than the courts, coalition members said at the time.

In May 2018, the provincially appointed government board heard Stadler’s arguments — and rejected his appeal.

He and the interveners are now going back to court to appeal the board’s decision, said Stadler’s lawyer, Karen Burwash, who is working pro bono. No date has been set yet for the appeal, she said.

On Tuesday, she appeared with Stadler before the social services appeal board, asking its three members to give Stadler a break on a glitch that credited his account in October with extra money but left him with just $120 to live on in November.

Board chairman Jim McCrae said a decision would be issued within 15 days.

Stadler has been living on less than $1,000 a month ($401 in CPP payments and $500 in social assistance benefits).

According to Stadler, when he started receiving CPP cheques, he didn’t cash them. He was waiting for the courts to decide whether or not provincial welfare could force him to take a reduced CPP prior to age 65.

His lawyer held on to the cheques and notified EIA he was not receiving any income from CPP, pending the court decision. His income assistance was adjusted.

Troubles and bills started to pile up. His ex-wife — his son’s mother — died. The City of Winnipeg went after him because his house had become so rundown on the exterior it violated the neighbourhood liveability bylaw.

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"The siding is unfinished, the roof leaks and there are carpenter ants. The front porch collapsed," he said.

He was ordered to do major repairs or face huge fines, Stadler said. He advised his lawyer he’d need to use some of the CPP money and to notify EIA.

The provincial welfare department wasn’t notified in time, and issued his EIA payments. It’s since worked out a deal with Stadler to pay back EIA for the income he received from CPP.

He’s hoping, at the end of the day — when the Manitoba Court of Appeal hears his case — it will find the province was wrong to make him and other Manitobans in similar situations in need of social assistance take a reduced Canada pension before they turn 65.

"It’s the principle involved."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol SandersReporter

Carol Sanders’ reporting on newcomers to Canada has made international headlines, earned national recognition but most importantly it’s shared the local stories of the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home.

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